St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital may be renowned for its research and treatment of catastrophic childhood diseases, but talk to those with experience there and it’s the feeling of faith and optimism they find from the moment they walk through the doors that sustains them through harrowing times.

But maybe that’s not surprising — after all, entertainer Danny Thomas founded the institution in the name of the patron saint of hopeless causes.

Della Lynne Montelbano

“Until you experience it, you don’t truly know what it is to be part of the St. Jude family.” — Heather Montelbano

On March 6 of this year, Heather Montelbano found herself lying on an ambulance gurney holding feverish 6-year-old daughter Della Lynne as she lay sprawled on top of her.

Just two days before, Montelbano had no idea Della was seriously ill, although she had missed enough days of kindergarten to need a doctor’s excuse. Now, she and her daughter were being rushed to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, referred from the Shreveport St. Jude affiliate at University Health.

What Montelbano thought would be a routine visit to pediatrician Dr. Gene Mack about Della’s cough set into motion a frightening whirlwind of events. After blood tests, an examination and a series of questions, Mack told Montelbano he thought Della had leukemia and sent them immediately to a hematology specialist at the St. Jude affiliate.

“My world completely changed,” Montelbano said. “My heart sank and, oh, my gosh, my daughter has … at that point I don’t think the word cancer had fully sunk in. It was leukemia, OK, this is bad.”

After three blood transfusions and a platelet transfusion in Shreveport, Della was on her way to Memphis for treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

“Once we got there, I was always pretty strong and positive,” Montelbano said. “I’ve always been a kind of keep-it-together kind of person. When we got there I could see the worry in my mom’s eyes, I could see the worry in her father’s eyes. Of course, I was worried and scared as well, but I tried to keep it all together. I knew in my heart of heart that we were at the absolutely best place we could be for this diagnosis.”

She did have her moments, though.

“The first time she was sedated for surgery and had her port put in, that was the day it got me. It kind of sunk in — this is real. My daughter has a chronic illness, she has cancer. This is bad. It sunk in and then you just snap yourself right back out and say, you know what, God has given us this, God is going to protect her. This is only to make her stronger.”

After the induction period, which lasted about two months and required them to stay in Memphis, Montelbano and Della settled into a grueling routine of back and forth — in Memphis for five days, back home for 10.

Now in the third phase of the treatment protocol — 120 weeks of chemo — Della is able to spend more time at home, visiting the local affiliate for weekly chemo and traveling to Memphis on a schedule for testing and more chemo.

She’ll be a first grader at South Highlands Elementary Magnet and she’s eager to start school.

But Montelbano says the experience has brought about some changes in her daughter. Formerly outgoing, even with strangers, Della has withdrawn a bit. Once she warms up, though, she’ll tell you she wants to be a raptor trainer when she grows up — thanks, “Jurassic World” — and show off the fierce-looking plastic raptor claws her grandmother bought for her.

Her hair — once long and curly hair, cut into a short bob when they got the diagnosis and ultimately shaved off after most of it fell out — is growing back, forming a dark halo that frames her face. So is Montelbano’s — mom and daughter shaved their heads together at Della’s request.

Della suffers from tiredness and occasional nausea, so Montelbano says they have “lazy days” about three times a week. “When she feels good, we go out and we play.”

Montelbano has stopped working temporarily in order to be there for her daughter.

“Right now, my focus is on her and making sure that she has someone to play with and roll around on the floor and giggle and laugh and have dance parties and educate her on ‘80s music,” she said.

In spite of the long journey ahead, Montelbano says she has peace of mind because of St. Jude.

“They have this protocol in place. They’ve got everything taken care of, so I know my daughter’s going to be OK. There’s always a reason why. God has a plan and it’s to let her survive this to be a strong person and tell her story. I know she’s going to do it.”

That’s how acute lymphoblastic leukemia was described to Jennifer Waxham when her 2-year-old daughter, Victoria, was diagnosed with it in 2002.

“I kind of felt they were a little bit crazy because you just told me my kid has cancer,” Waxham remembers. “But it truly was the best bad situation.”

Waxham’s pediatrician, Dr. Donald Mack, well known locally for his support of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, had noticed something wasn’t right with Victoria in March and began monitoring her, but she spontaneously recovered. When she got sick again in July, Mack requested a second opinion from staff at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans.

The diagnosis: very early onset ALL, one of the most curable forms of childhood cancer.

The Waxhams arrived at St. Jude in Memphis on Aug. 1 and Victoria started chemotherapy immediately.

“On Sept. 19, two days after her third birthday, we found out she was in remission,” Waxham said.

And she’s stayed there — no relapses.

During the first nine months of Victoria’s treatment, Waxham said they probably spent six months in Memphis, traveling back and forth regularly.

“They took care of all of our travel, they took care of making sure she was fed, so we could focus on getting her better. I feel like they are one of a kind about that. No one else does that. It’s such a gift to have as a parent to know that I just have to focus on getting her better.”

Weekly chemotherapy was administered at the St. Jude affiliate at Shreveport’s University Health.

“When she was in kindergarten, I would check her out every Monday after lunch and we would go and have our chemo,” Waxham said.

Her last session was Feb. 19, 2005.

Now, Victoria, who will be a junior at Parkway High School this fall, goes back to Memphis yearly for an examination at the After Completion of Therapy Clinic (ACT), and will until she’s 18 — longer if she chooses. There’s more to these visits than just making sure the cancer hasn’t come back, though. Clinic visits also focus on monitoring for late side effects of cancer and its therapy, psychological assessments, educating survivors on potential other health risks and visiting with a social worker who can help with school, work or social problems.

Interaction with staff there solidified Victoria’s chosen career path — she wants to study psychology and work with children in a medical setting.

Because Victoria doesn’t really remember what it was like to undergo active treatment at St. Jude, the annual trips are like a vacation for her.

“Every now and then, I kind of wish I would remember so I would know what the experience was like, but in the long run I’m thankful that I don’t remember anything,” Victoria said.

Her mother, though, remembers the experience well.

“When they told me Victoria has cancer, I thought it was a death sentence,” Waxham said. “I was thinking she’s not going to be able to do this, and she’s not going to be able to do that, and as we went through the doors of the hospital, there was just a peace that came over me. Never before or since have I had that. I just knew we were at the right place and she was going to be OK.

“To me, St. Jude truly is a blessing and love. They gave me my daughter back and that’s priceless.”

Zarek McFarland

“They have been a blessing, a true blessing.” — Quinntella Rancher

A nighttime phone call from the family doctor on Sept. 30, 2013, changed the lives of Quinntella Rancher and son Zarek McFarland.

“I had a kind of feeling something was wrong because of how the conversation was going,” Rancher said. “She told me that he had leukemia or some form of cancer and that we needed to pack bags immediately to go to St. Jude. I broke down. That was scary. That was something I never expected in a million years, to get a phone call saying that your child has cancer. It was very terrifying.”

Rancher, who lives in West Monroe, had taken her son to the doctor because she found lumps on his head and along his neck. At the doctor’s office, more lumps were discovered — under his armpits, in the groin area and on his legs. A blood test was ordered and Rancher had gone home to await that life-changing phone call that sent her and Zarek rushing to Memphis.

Entering St. Jude for the first time, Rancher was full of anxiety.

“They had told me that it’s not confirmed yet, so that was the nerve-wracking part — to see if he has cancer or he doesn’t. “

He did. On Oct. 2, Rancher found out the diagnosis: ALL, acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

They were in Memphis about a month and a half for initial treatment.

Zarek, now 11, says he was pretty scared when he first went to St. Jude, but he’s not any more. He’s entering sixth grade this fall and hopes to be an artist some day.

Almost two years into treatment, he’s accustomed to making the drive to Shreveport with his mom and little sister Camille for weekly chemotherapy administered at the St. Jude affiliate at University Health and to the regular trips back to Memphis for tests and additional chemo.

Rancher is calmer now too.

“Overall, everybody we came in contact with was extremely friendly and very understanding and helpful to the situation. They have been a blessing, a true blessing, both here and there,” she said. “It’s an awesome place. It’s always a comforting feeling once you are here. You are never left in the dark. You always get the information you need, as far as how everything goes and the treatments, what are we doing today. They have been a blessing. I can say that over and over.”

Hillary Husband

“There’s this atmosphere at St. Jude of hope. It makes you resilient, it makes you want to fight.” — Hillary Husband

Hillary Husband calls herself a professional cancer destroyer.

Appropriate, since she’s bested the disease three times.

And she’s just 22 years old.

Husband, a native of DeRidder who is currently a student at Louisiana College in Pineville, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia at age 14.

She had been “off” for about a week — feeling faint, sleeping a lot, having some aches and pains. But it wasn’t until she almost blacked out during a danceline audition that alarms went off. After a trip to Byrd Regional Hospital in Leesville, she was transferred to Shreveport for more tests.

She found out her diagnosis at about 3:30 a.m.

“I was very much exhausted. They called my parents out, then they all came back in, and I knew it wasn’t good. I was told it was leukemia and I didn’t really know what that was. I said what is that and she said blood cancer. You hear cancer, you think I’m going to die. That’s just your initial reaction. I’m going to die. I’m never going to dance again. I’m never going to go back to school. I just made it to high school and, all of a sudden, this is over. I was in shock, to be honest.”

That was April 1, 2008.

On April 3, they were at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis to begin treatment.

“It was seven years ago and it feels like yesterday,” Husband said. “We had flown from Shreveport to Memphis and I was declining quickly. My leukemia was very aggressive. The side effects were getting worse really quickly. The St. Jude shuttle took us to the front door. I was in a lot of pain and my mom wheeled me in and a security guard walked up to us and said ‘you must be Hillary. We’ve been expecting you.’ I was like what is this place? It’s unexplainable, but like this burden just lifted off my mom’s and my shoulders. I knew it was going to be OK.”

She was in treatment for about 33 months total and estimates about seven to eight months were spent in Memphis, although not all at the same time. She received the bulk of her treatment at the St. Jude affiliate in Shreveport.

Because of the customized tutoring offered when treatment required her to stay in Memphis, she never got behind on schoolwork.

“When I was able to go home, I was able to go right back into class. It was like I never left. I was a straight-A student going into this, and I said I’m not going to let this take that from me, and I graduated valedictorian of my class.”

She started feeling sick during her freshman year and was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Flown from the hospital in Alexandria to St. Jude, she was kept in a medically induced coma on a ventilator for about seven days with a mass pressing on her heart and lungs. She learned later that there were only two other known cases like hers in the world. St. Jude doctors consulted with European physicians who had treated them to come up with a protocol. By the time she woke up from the coma, her tumor had shrunk by half.

With treatment, she was able to return to college and the danceline.

Still, cancer wasn’t done.

Her doctor noticed low blood platelet levels and tests revealed she now had a different subtype of ALL.

So it was back to St. Jude, this time for a bone marrow transplant, which occurred in July 2013. By January 2014, she was back in school.

Now, she’s looking to the future with a dream of some day doing research, ideally at St. Jude, that could contribute to cures for cancer and the side effects of treatment.

Without St. Jude, she doesn’t think it would be possible.

“If I had made it this far without St. Jude, I don’t know if I would have the minimal side effects I have and I don’t know that I would have the outlook on life that I do. It really is humbling to be there. I remember when I first got there, I was sad — I’ve got cancer, it’s horrible.

“I looked down at the playground and there were these little bald kids just running around like nothing was wrong, laughing with each other, and my mom said they have the same thing you do, what’s your problem? It was just the kick in the butt that I needed to realize that just because you’re sick doesn’t mean your life has to stop. If I hadn’t had that atmosphere that St. Jude has I might not have been as optimistic.”